


Tadashi and Gogo

by Capucine



Category: Benny & Joon (1993), Big Hero 6 (2014), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Siblings, F/M, Fusion, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, No Hiro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-02-27 01:17:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2673446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capucine/pseuds/Capucine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a different time, in a different place, Tadashi Hamada is the legal guardian of his half-sister, Leiko Tanaka, also known as Gogo Tomago. With her crippling mental illness and his college studies, Tadashi's plate is full-- perhaps too full. The police warn him that if there is another incident with Leiko, they will take her away. And that's not something that Tadashi thinks he can handle.</p>
<p>But when two strangers show up in their lives, an alternative may be possible...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, Leiko Tanaka is the comic book secret identity of Gogo Tomago, so I went with that.

Leiko was the only family Tadashi had. Technically speaking, she was his half sister, but their family was tight-knit, just the two of them. And it was quit evident there was no one else to take care of Leiko.

“We're going to have a good day today, right?” Tadashi asked, as he packed his backpack for college. His grant barely covered them both, but with Leiko's disability SSI, they managed.

“Because the mentally ill are all five year olds in disguise, aren't they?” Leiko challenged, narrowing her eyes at him. She'd been especially moody since she'd had to drop out of college.

“I'm sorry,” Tadashi sighed, shoving the last of his papers in. He looked over at the blender that Leiko was filling, a typical morning activity. “I'm just trying to brighten the morning.”

“Don't talk down to me, then,” Leiko said, pouring fruit loops into the blender. “Are we out of bananas?”

“No, I got more. Stay in the house, all right? I'll be back by 3.” Tadashi hugged her, kissing her on the top of the head; she let out a sort of huff, but patted her hand against his arm.

“Thanks,” she said, eyes still trained on the blender. 

Tadashi still double-checked the lock on the absolutely dangerous things, and then headed out for college.

–----

Wasabi was the first to greet him. “Hey, what's up? How's Gogo doing?”

Tadashi sighed. “She's still herself. But she hasn't done anything dangerous or disruptive lately, so I think she's pretty happy.”

Wasabi gave him a sympathetic look. “We miss her here. And if you ever need any help, just let us know.”

Honey Lemon had caught the tail end of the conversation apparently, because she gave a firm nod over from her work station.

It only made Tadashi feel worse for Leiko; she had every bit of intelligence needed to excel at college. Emotionally, mentally, however, she couldn't handle it. She couldn't differentiate between reality and delusions some of the time, and that was reason enough for her to be expelled.

He knew it weighed heavily on her.

He started on his work with his robot; Baymax was nearly fully functional. Ever since Leiko had become his responsibility, he had thought about how he could make it safer for her, easier for her to be cared for. He didn't like having to leave her home alone all the time.

There were a few snags in the programming, and he had yet to finish with the programming for temporarily splinting broken bones. He wanted something that would help anyone with an illness or disability be able to live with a lot more independence and safety.

He was partway through the complicated programming for minor burns when Wasabi stuck his head into the room.

“Hey, uh, you've got a phone call.”

There was a sinking feeling from Tadashi. “Who is it?”

“The police.”

With a sigh, Tadashi came to take the phone.

–---

As he arrived on the scene, he could see Leiko sitting on a bench, with a young police officer sitting next to her. She was still, back erect and blank expression on her face.

“What happened?” Tadashi asked, not sure if he should address the police officer or Leiko.

The young officer spoke first, saying, “You're the legal guardian of Leiko Tanaka?”

“Yes,” Tadashi said. This officer must be new; Tadashi and Leiko were familiar with many police officers in their area, as well as the emergency room doctors, nurses, and technicians.

The police officer had the decency to look apologetic. “Your sister was standing in the middle of the street, looking upwards. Several cars ended up going onto the sidewalk trying not to hit her, and crashed together.”

Tadashi sighed, and said, “I'm sorry. She's mentally ill--”

“We know.” Officer Gregg, a familiar police officer, nodded to the younger cop that he would take over. “Tadashi, we can't have things like this keep happening. It was minor damage this time, but one day she's going to do something that can't be fixed.”

“I know, I'm sorry,” Tadashi said, looking over at Leiko; she was still seemingly staring at the crash, like she couldn't take her eyes off of it. “It won't happen again.”

Officer Gregg just sighed. “It can't, or her social worker will have to get involved; if you can't handle her, she'll have to go somewhere that they can.”

Tadashi fought the urge to bristle at that, and just nodded to Officer Gregg. “Yes, I understand, thank you.”

Officer Gregg headed back to the group of disgruntled drivers and his fellow officers.

Tadashi grabbed Leiko's arm, and she silently walked along beside him. Once they were in the house, he sat her down on the couch. “Leiko? Can you talk to me?”

He could smell fruit loops and milk in the air; she hadn't even finished breakfast.

She stared straight ahead. She was catatonic. Her eyes didn't move, she didn't respond back.

This was worse than when she was seeing or hearing things; it was like she was some moveable statue, able to be guided, but not able to do much on her own.

He sighed, and gently pushed her down onto the couch. Then he wrapped a blanket around her.

Then he flipped on the TV; it was going to be a long afternoon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guardianship laws regarding mental illness vary from state to state, and I don't know California's laws on it, but considering that BH6 is set twenty minutes into the future and is a combined Tokyo and San Francisco, I figured I could take artistic license.

Leiko had come to around dinnertime. She blinked several times, and worked her jaw, as though it had been stiff. Then she looked over at him, and said, "We're out of bubble gum."

Tadashi had a mix of emotions. It was hard for him to be truly, completely angry with most people, and especially at Leiko. But it was hard to take episodes of catatonia and psychosis in a person he'd always remembered as a strong kid. "Is that why you left the house?"

Leiko seemed to pick up on his tone, and she crossed her arms. "So, what, is this my prison now? Do I have to hide in the attic?"

Never mind that there wasn't an attic, Tadashi pulled his hands over his face. "Leiko, you could have died. You could have been hit by a car!"

"I wouldn't have been, traffic's slow through here." Leiko walked over, watching the grilled cheese in the pan. "You might want to flip that."

"Leiko, I'm serious," Tadashi said, though he did flip the sandwich. "It's dangerous for you to be out on your own!"

"Yes, because the mentally ill are little babies who need to be coddled, right?" Leiko snapped back. Her face was getting red, and her hands were clenched into fists.

"No, you're not a baby, I'm just trying to keep you safe," Tadashi said, "It's not fair of you to act like I'm your warden!"

Leiko shouted back at him, "I'm not helpless! You can't boss me around, I am an adult!"

"The state of California says I can," Tadashi responded, which was not the best response he could have come up with, something he realized when Leiko seized the spatula and threw it. A lamp shattered, an old one from the eighties that Tadashi had gotten from a second hand store.

"Leiko!" he said, but she glared at him.

"Stop it, just stop it! I'm going into my room!" And before he could catch up with her (she was a bit of speed demon), she'd already gotten into her room and slammed the door. It didn't lock, due to having no lock, but Tadashi could imagine her viciously locking the door. It was like there was a big sign that said, 'Caution: Do Not Enter' on the door.

He gave up for that moment. Following her into her room and continuing the argument tended to only make things worse.

He ran his hand through his hair, and groaned. He was barely older than her. How was he supposed to take care of her, especially given she often didn't want to be taken care of?

Rescuing the grilled cheese before it burned, he put one on a plate outside Leiko's room, and one on his own plate. He ate alone.

\------

Friends didn't often come over anymore. They used to come over a lot, back when Leiko was doing well.

That was the thing about psychosis; not only did it usually manifest in a person's twenties, but it was hard on everyone around the affected person.

This morning, Tadashi picked up the empty plate outside the door to Leiko's room, and tentatively knocked. "Leiko? You up?"

He didn't get a response. "Leiko. It's Tadashi."

That, if she wasn't having a psychotic episode, was sure to be answered with, "Who else do you think lives in our house?"

But it wasn't. Tadashi sighed, put his hand on the handle, and prepared to shield his eyes should he have caught her mid-change. "Leiko, I'm opening the door now..."

She was up, and completely clothed. In pajamas. She had her hands over her eyes, and was lying on the floor in a fetal position. "Sh, the microbots can hear you!" she said, lifting her hands to glare at him.

There were no microbots. There had never been microbots. But he lowered his voice anyway. "Okay, Leiko, remember what Dr. Smith said about the microbots?"

"Sh!" Leiko stayed more determinedly on the floor. 

Tadashi walked in, saying, "The microbots aren't real. No one is here to spy on you."

"I can see them, idiot! All over the freaking ceiling! They're trying to take my ideas out of my brain!" Leiko snapped. She covered her head with her hands, still not rising.

Granted, there were ideas worth stealing in Leiko's brain; however, Tadashi knew that this was one of the primary delusions she had. Hallucination and paranoia combined. "Well, let's at least get out of this room, okay? They're not in the rest of the house."

Leiko seemed to accept this, and took his hand. He pulled her up to her feet, and led her out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Then she made a dash for the bathroom.

"No, Leiko, wait!"

Click and lock. He could hear her opening the closet door and shutting it. She would be in there for probably the rest of the day, the supposed only safe place in the house. 

So much for showering before he went to school. "Leiko, you stay in the house, okay? I'm going to go to school."

"Okay," came the barely audible response.

He double and triple checked that everything dangerous was locked up, and then, with a poptart in his teeth, he went to school.

 


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't that Tadashi wasn't used to their life. It was that it had never gotten any easier. The moment he thought he knew that Leiko was getting better was exactly the second she'd dive down again. It was a difficult situation, at the very least.

Now, he was at college, heading for the cafeteria to see if he could find day old donuts again to supplement him past the late afternoon class. He ducked into it through the glass door-- and promptly slammed into someone.

"I am so sorry!" he said, catching her. 

"Oh, no no no, I wasn't looking where I was going, sorry!" She had long blonde hair, a spattered pair of painter's overalls, and did he mention how long her hair was? It snaked down in a braid past her rear. She also had big, green eyes, and freckles across her nose.

She had a flax muffin in hand.

"It's okay," Tadashi said, letting her go. "I mean, I'm sorry. I really wasn't paying attention either."

She smiled at him, saying, "That's okay." She was quiet for all of a second, before saying, "Hey, um, would you like to join me at an outside table after you get your food?"

He actually did have a good twenty or so minutes til class. He swallowed, and said, "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

His heart seemed to do a weird pitter patter in his chest. It was the first time he'd talked to a girl who wasn't Honey Lemon or Leiko in a long time. He walked as calmly as possible into the cafeteria, found a day old donut, and was back outside again before he'd really processed what this meant.

"So," he said, grinning a bit awkwardly, "I'm Tadashi. What's your name?"

"You're going to laugh," she said, smiling back, "but it's Rapunzel. I know, I know, my mom was a big fan of the fairytale."

"It's a pretty name," Tadashi said, feeling a flutter in his chest. She was pretty, and more important than that, she had this personality that just seemed to click with his.

"Aw, thanks," Rapunzel said. She took a drink of coffee, adding, "I'm a fine arts student, interdisciplinary; what about you?"

"Robotics," he replied, and he knew that he knew so little about art. But she wasn't a snooty or pretentious artist, as far as he could tell, not like some he'd met; instead, she wore flip-flops and a t-shirt with a chameleon on it under her overalls.

They talked for what turned out to be an hour, and he had to run to catch the tail end of class. But he didn't care; Rapunzel was a beautiful person.

\----

Leiko was about, still in her pajamas, but watching a documentary on Harley Davidson. He was glad to see she was out of the closet, but he still checked in.

"How are you feeling, Leiko?" he asked, though he was floating on a cloud.

"Good," Leiko said, though she turned to see him. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," Tadashi said, not wanting to make too much of a single 'date'. It wasn't even really a date.

If Leiko thought it was unusual, she didn't say anything. Then a somewhat guilty expression came onto her face. "I... broke the lights in the bathroom."

"Both of them?" Tadashi sighed. He was off the cloud.

"Yeah," she said. She tucked her legs under herself, and looked down at the floor. She clenched her jaw, and he had a feeling she didn't want to admit how far from reality she had been all day.

"I'll fix it," Tadashi said. She didn't need him making her feel worse; he could tell she felt like some chastised child.

She nodded, and turned back to her documentary.


End file.
